Page 5 of No Capes
“Hey.” He pulls his shirt over his head and tosses it on the deck, revealing strong shoulders and abs so defined, I can’t believe they’re real. I force myself to look anywhere but at him.
That water sure is bluish green today.
“I’m Madeline,” I eventually say, making sure Arielle is out of earshot. “Andyouare her latest project.”
“I hear you were her first.” He speaks slowly, with a disarming quietness. Despite the sharp shape of his muscles, his gray eyes hold a gentle softness, and there’s power about him that I can’t quite place. A chill brushes my bare legs, and I wish I had on a sweater, not my bathing suit.
“I guess so,” I reply. Actually, Arielle had thrown a full tantrum at our dad when I tried to join the team. Swimming washerthing.
“Looks like Fox is running late, best day ever,” Kristen says as she passes. She swims in a slower lane, which means we can make faces at each other, but not, as Arielle calls it,participate in distracting chit chat.
“Yes!”Something is going well this morning.
“Who’s Fox?” Aaron asks.
“The third member of our swimming lane.” Also a subject I’d rather not shed light on before 6:00 A.M.“I’m sure his presence will grace us soon.”
Aaron snorts. Conversation over, I streamline my arms over my head and dive. I break through the surface and switch on autopilot. Seconds later, I’m half a lap in and already sprinting. When I reach the wall, I plant my feet on its cold tiles and push off hard. Time for lap two.
~
My hands slam into the pool’s cement edge. Panting harder than usual, I rip off my goggles and submerge. My teammates’ kicks pulse underwater, as if the pool has a heartbeat, but I am ahead of it all. Victory. The beat crescendos when Aaron crashes into the wall—he’s finished seconds after me. The serene sound of splashing brings me two minutes of peace, and for a moment I have a personal sanctuary.
When I come up, the good times are over. This is evident when a sing-song voice utters four words: “Nice to meet you.”
Fox Levine, with his sharp green eyes, blonde hair, and annoying grin, nods to Aaron as they introduce themselves. Fox’s perfect skin is still tan from summer, gold under the fluorescent light. He lounges on the pool deck, lazily sipping his signature red sports drink. Every time I see him drinking it, Ihave this urge to snatch the bottle from his stupid hands and throw it in his face.
“Why are you late?” I ask. If anyone else had arrived thirty minutes after practice started, Arielle would have made them wash the pool deck with a single sponge. IfIhad shown up that late—not that I ever would—I would be washing the floors of the whole school. Yet, Fox’s punishments are nonexistent, and he gets into more trouble than the rest of us combined.
Fox turns to me. “Good morning, Maddragon. It’s stupendous to see your bright and cheery face today.”
He places his sacred bottle right on the pool’s edge, failing to answer my question. Typical. The heavy scent of fruit punch lingers between us. Aaron studies Fox and me, and I wonder how he’ll fit in. Will he and Fox become BFFs, like Fox is with everyone but me? Or will the dynamics shift in my favor for a change?
I glance at Aaron. He’s stopped staring and introduces himself to some guy in the next lane. A shiver runs up my neck as another flash of last night comes back: an icy drizzle, the creepy stalker, the mysterious Super.
Then comes the perfect splash: a graceful dip and smooth, spiraling ripples.
Everything stops when Fox swims, and all heads turn to observe his precise strokes. Kristen catches my attention from lane four and blows a raspberry.
The man’s rotten breath reaches my nose. His gun shines in the moonlight.
I steal a sip of Fox’s drink and wait for the waves to settle.
By the time Arielle approaches to give us our workout, Fox is playfully teasing a freshman on the deck. Arielle gives Fox and me identical workouts, but she prefers to tell Fox what they are. I’m left to perpetually kick five seconds behind Fox and his abnormally humongous feet. I’ll never know what Arielle wantsfrom me; breaking records—and sharing DNA—isn’t enough for me to be included in her life. We were never close, and after that horrible night three years ago, she made it clear that we never would be.
When Arielle leaves, Fox turns and asks the same question he does every morning, “Everything splash-tastic today, Maddy?”
No, Fox. Everything is the opposite of splash-tastic, and you know it.
“It’sMadeline,and yes, I’m fine.” The answer I always give. This generally ends our interaction for the day, so I drag my hands through the water, making it curl and dance, and brush Arielle off like she’s nothing. When the decisions on my scholarship applications come back and I can swim in a college that’s in any other city, these practices won’t matter anymore.
I feel Aaron’s eyes on me. But as Fox kicks off the wall, beginning our next set of drills, I gear up to follow him. Despite my sister ignoring me and my having to share a lane with someone I loathe, I’m okay. Right until Aaron’s whisper hits me like lightning. “You’re lying.”
Three
Every so often, a debate pops up about which superpower is the coolest. Kristen says it’s the classic—and awesome—power to fly. My dad disagrees; he’d want mind-reading. He jokes that’s a way to finally know what his daughters are thinking. I’d choose super speed or teleportation, so I could stop needing Kristen for rides. Then there’s invisibility. People want invisibility so they can trespass and shoplift. I don’t trust anyone who would pick invisibility. Besides, it’s easy to be invisible. Welcome to the dead middle of the high school food chain.
The best part of my afternoon is between 2:25 and 2:30 P.M., right after the last bell of the day rings, signaling the end of my educational imprisonment, and right before Damian Scott Jr. finishes filling his plaid book bag.
